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Background: Word production difficulty is one of the most common and persisting symptoms in people suffering from aphasia (i.e., anomia). However, there is a considerable variability in patients' responses to treatment, leading to the need of new effective approaches. Also, the mechanisms underlying word (re)learning is little known in production even in neurotypical adult native language and especially in relationship with the lexical-semantic integration of (re)learnt words. The lexical-semantic network being highly contextual and multimodal, new technologies such as immersive virtual reality (iVR) may become pertinent approaches, but still need scientific proof, especially as past studies have found no advantage over a control method and have never used an immersive version of VR. Yet, the immersion has been identified as being a key factor of positive outcomes in learning. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether iVR provides a benefit in word learning in neurotypical adults (Study 1) and in the treatment for anomia in people suffering from aphasia following stroke (Study 2)., Method: In study 1, 32 neurotypical adults learned two matched lists of 30 rare words each in their native language (French) during a one-week protocol alternating test and learning sessions with iVR and a digital static learning method. Study 2 followed the same design over a two week-period with 16 people with aphasia (re)learning two matched lists of 28 frequent words., Results: Neurotypical adults demonstrated a higher accuracy rate in word production for words learned with iVR in comparison to those learned with the digital static learning method. For people suffering from anomia, the iVR did not differ from the control method on total accuracy but led to a greater reduction of lexical errors., Conclusion: iVR has a potential of use for learning new words but also for the treatment of word production difficulties, especially in people with aphasia that produce mainly lexical errors. These two main results lead to the hypothesis that iVR promotes lexical-semantic processes., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive tool that induces neuromodulation in the brain. Several studies have shown that rTMS improves language recovery in patients with post-stroke aphasia., Objective: This systematic review summarizes the role of rTMS in aphasia rehabilitation., Methods: We searched MEDLINE via PubMed and Scopus on 30October, 2020, for English articles (1996-2020). Eligible studies involved post-stroke aphasia rehabilitation with rTMS. In some of these studies, rTMS was also combined with speech therapy., Results: In total, seven meta-analyses and 59studies (23randomized clinical trials) were included in this systematic review. The methods used in these studies were heterogeneous. Only six studies did not find that rTMS had a significant effect on language performance., Conclusions: The evidence from the peer-reviewed literature suggests that rTMS is an effective tool in post-stroke aphasia rehabilitation. However, the precise mechanisms that underlie the effects of rTMS and the reorganization of language networks in patients who have had a stroke remain unclear. We discuss these crucial challenges in the context of future studies., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In stroke-induced aphasia, left hemispheric lesions generally disturb the word production network. The left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and the left middle temporal gyrus (LMTG) are involved in word production, but their respective contribution remains ambiguous. Previous investigations have largely focused on semantic interference to gather information about word production. Here we assessed the sensitivity of twenty-five aphasic speakers with either LIFG or LMTG lesions and matched controls to both semantic facilitation and interference in word production using the picture-word (PWP) and the blocked-cyclic naming (BCNP) paradigms. In the PWP (Exp. 1), semantic facilitation was exaggerated in participants with LIFG damage as compared to age-matched controls. In the BCNP (Exp. 2), repetition priming on production speed was larger in participants with LMTG damage than in controls, without any decrease of semantic errors. In the light of the results in the PWP, the LIFG appears to be a necessary structure to shape semantic facilitation. It might play an important role in properly adjusting the lexical selection threshold within the word production network. The results in the BCNP suggest that the LMTG conveys semantic-to-lexical connections likely involved in repetition priming and in mapping concepts to their correct lexical label. As consequences, participants with LIFG lesions possibly rely more on strategic vs automatic processes to efficiently select lexical entries in semantically competitive contexts, whereas participants with LMTG might exploit residual semantic-to-lexical activation., (Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)